-New York in the summer, you couldn't get much better than that, Lucas thought looking at the city from his apartment window. He had been living in New York for over two years now. At first it was only periodical visits to his publisher and agents but eventually he had gotten himself an apartment, in case of emergency he had told himself, well that was at first, ultimately he had just ended up living there, and had loved every single minute of it. He was still close to his family and friends, he tried to go to Tree Hill as often as he could to see them, but they had all grown up now, they didn't need each other as much as they did then, he figured it was just normal that they had drifted apart like they did.

-He was about to get out to go grocery shopping when the doorbell rang. He opened the door to find a woman he didn't know looking up at him questionably.

-"Yeah?" He asked wondering who she was.

-"Lucas Scott?" She asked looking at her notes for confirmation.

-"Yeah. What can I do for you?" He asked politely.

-"I'm Laura Kenmore from the New York City social services, acting as representative from the Los Angeles social services." She said all matter-of-factly.

-"Okay, what is this about?"

-"Can I come in?" She asked not wanting to get into this in the hallway.

-"Of course." He led her to the kitchen where they both took a seat, before the woman spoke again.

-"Mister Scott, are you familiar with one Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer?"

-His whole body froze, Peyton, he hadn't seen or heard anything from her in over 6 years, ever since she had decided that she needed to stay in L.A. after her internship for her career and they had decided to end their relationship. He still thought of her frequently though, she after all had been the only person he had ever truly loved, even time couldn't erase that. He nodded to the lady curious as what this was about.

-The feeling that he had had at the pit of his stomach the moment she had said her name only got worst when he saw the very professional expression of compassion that she had on her face now. Something had happened, to Peyton, to his Peyton.

-"Is she okay?" He asked terrified of the answer.

-The woman took a deep breath before speaking, the professional exterior still standing strong. "No, Mister Scott, she isn't. She perished in a plane accident off the California coast a few days ago." She stopped letting it sink in.

-No, no way, it was all he could think of, it couldn't be her, she couldn't be dead. She was Peyton, she was so strong. He looked up at the woman, whatever her name was hopping that she would deny it, say it was some sick joke, anything to keep him from having to accept that the love of his life was dead.

-"I'm sorry."

-"No, she's not dead, she can't be." He said barely above a whisper, tears rolling from his eyes.

-"I'm sorry. But mister Scott, this is not the reason why I'm here." She moved on to the next topic of conversation like it was nothing.

-His head shot up, what else could she say after that. He didn't really care, nothing mattered anymore, not if Peyton was dead. He felt as if he had nothing to live for anymore, she was always what he looked forward to, a time where they would both finally be ready to spend the rest of their life together. Not that that would ever happened now, he thought bitterly.

-"Look, I don't think that I can take more now so…"

-She cut him off. "Miss Sawyer had a daughter, a five year old little girl whose legal guardianship is yours."

-His head shot up again, what? Peyton had a daughter. He did the calculation in his head, and didn't know if he was glad or angry that she couldn't be his and then he realised what the last part of the sentence meant.

-"What, you mean that Peyton…" He couldn't finish the sentence, he couldn't admit that she could be gone forever.

-"Had legal guardianship of her daughter determined and she decided that if anything were to happen to her, you were to become the sole guardian of her daughter, Anna Elizabeth Sawyer." She finished for him.

-"Anna Elizabeth Sawyer." He repeated slowly to himself, trying to wrapped his mind around the idea. Suddenly a thought hit him. "What about the father?"

-"Not in the picture apparently. He relinquished parenting rights over to Miss Sawyer before the girl was even born."

-Lucas wanted to find this guy just so that he could punch his lights out for not wanting what he himself would have given anything to have, a child with Peyton.

-"So?" He said when the wave of anger wore off slightly. He had no idea what to do now, what he wanted to do.

-"Now, you have two choices. You can either accept legal guardianship of the girl and fly to L.A. to get her from the home where she is presently housed by Social Services, or you can fight legal guardianship and go to court to ask that another guardian be chosen for the child. If no other person volunteers or is judged as a reasonable guardian the child will be placed under the care of the state of California, until her eighteen birthday." She explained again very professionally.

-Lucas wanted to yell at her. He had no idea where the anger was coming from, this woman had done nothing but be completely professional, but he was angry nonetheless. How could she talk about all of this like that, with such detachment, it was Peyton's daughter they were talking about, his Peyton. He chased the thought out of his head, he couldn't think of her right now, because if he did he would break down, and he couldn't do that now, things needed to be done. Before he was about to tell her his decision she spoke again.

-She handed him an envelop. "This was with her will, it is addressed to you. It stated that it was to be given to you before you made a decision about the child. So here."

-He took the envelop from her, handling it with the outmost care. Tears started to fall from his eyes as he saw his name written in her handwriting on the envelop. He brushed them off and slowly opened the envelop to read the letter not knowing what to expect.

-Dear Lucas,

This is weird, I always considered myself a pretty morbid person, you know the glass's always half empty, okay so this isn't really funny, but I'm trying. If you read this then it means that I'm dead.(God can I be more cliché.) Sorry, I just never imagined myself writing one of those, but here it goes.

So if I'm dead and you're reading this it also means that you know about Anna. Don't worry she isn't yours, even though I wish so often that she is, she's not. After we broke up I try to move on, that didn't really work out, but that's not the point. I met this guy and for a while I thought that…I was wrong, and it didn't last but then I realised that I was pregnant. I decided to do it on my own and he was more than happy about that so he relinquished parenting rights. She's all mine, well all yours now I guess.

I know that this must be a shock for you, I don't know how long it would have been since we last saw each other when you read this, or if you'll ever read it at all, but I want you to know that I never stopped loving you, never. But what is done is done. I'm gone, you couldn't save me this time,(see I know what you're thinking), but this, whatever happened, wasn't your fault you need to know that.

But the point is, I'm gone, but Anna isn't. You and her are the best things that ever happened to me Luke, this is why I chose you. I don't want her to grow up feeling alone and scared to love like I did. You saved me from that. I know that this is a lot to ask, you probably have your own life now, but I'm asking anyway, save my daughter from that too, please. I would really like to know when I'm in heaven(God I hope that's where I'm going but anyway), I would like to know that the two persons that I love the most are together and happy, Please.

I'm going to love you forever

(that's the whole idea isn't it, it's always going to be there)

P.S.: I promised myself that I wouldn't go there, after all it's not the point, but I figured I'm dead what the heck. I just want you to know that all I ever wanted was for you to be happy, I want you to be happy more than I want to be happy myself, so I hope that you are or eventually will be, with all my heart.

Peyton

-Before he even realised it tears were pouring out of his eyes and he couldn't stop them. Somehow reading her tell him that she was dead made it all real, so damn real. He felt like every single bone in his body was hurting, he'd never felt so much pain before. She was gone, really gone and there was now this huge weight on his chest, he felt like he couldn't breath.

-He saw a hand with a tissue in it and realised that he wasn't alone. Somehow while reading Peyton's letter he had completely forgot about that woman from social services. Instantly he built up his walls. This part of himself, the part that belonged to Peyton, he didn't want to share with anyone, much less her, it just hurt too much. He took the tissue and wiped off his tears folding the letter carefully and putting it back in the envelop, the last thing he wanted was to lose it in some way or by some means to destroy it, it was the last thing of Peyton that he had.

-Realization dawned on him, no it wasn't. He could have Anna. He remembered Peyton's words in the letter, the words that would probably be burnt in his mind forever. She wanted him and Anna to be together, for the two people that she loved the most to be together. That made him smile, but only for a second, before reality came crashing down on him, he had lost her, it didn't really matter anymore that she still loved him. Then he thought back to Anna, she had lost her too.

-"When can I go get her?" He asked determined. Peyton's last wish was for him to take care of Anna and he would be damn if he let her down on that.